ATHENS – Jason Carter and Tommy Schmock both had season highs in points as Ohio held off Bowling Green 85-78 on Tuesday night at The Convo for its eighth straight win.

Carter finished with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Schmock had 17 points and seven rebounds in his second start of the season. Mark Sears contributed 19 points and six rebounds, and freshman AJ Clayton had a big game off the bench with 12 points, a career high.

Daeqwon Plowden and Myron Gordon scored 18 points each for the Falcons (8-7, 1-3 Mid-American Conference).

“The guys controlled pretty much the whole game,” Ohio coach Jeff Boals said. “We knew it was gonna be tough. Coming in, we wanted to try to get to the foul line more and outrebound them - kind of what they've what they did to us last year. And I thought our guys did a really good job of being in attack mode. Certain guys, you know, different guys, stepped up at different times. Hit some big free throws to kind of keep it at that six-, seven-, eight-point mark there late in the game, and they did a great job finishing the game."

Ohio (13-2, 4-0 MAC) led most of the way, but not my much. A Chandler Turner 3-pointer cut Bowling Green’s deficit to 58-57 with 7:38 remaining, but Ohio went on an 8-0 run to take control, scoring six of those points at the foul line. A Schmock 3-pointer with 2:27 to go made it 75-65.

But Bowling Green had one more push in it, getting as close as 78-74 on a Gordon three-point play with 57 seconds left. Free throws from Sears and Schmock helped put it away.

The Falcons never led in the game but did not trail by more than six points until a Clayton 3-pointer made it 57-50 midway through the second half.

Ohio shot 44.3% for the game, including 30.8% from 3-point range, while Bowling Green made 43.3% of its shots, with a 39.1% mark on 3-pointers.

A game after knocking down six 3-pointers and scoring 20 points, Vander Plas was 0-for-4 from long range and had only six points, but he contributed six rebounds and four assists.

"I think, No. 1, what an awesome, awesome atmosphere," Boals said. "I mean, having the students back, it makes a big difference. The band. I mean, just a great environment for a college basketball game. And for Tuesday night to have 6,811 people you know, I appreciate it, our guys appreciate it, and hopefully we can keep building on that.”

The Bobcats hit the road to face Central Michigan at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at McGuirk Arena.